First look at Chrome in the Windows 8 Metro environment

Chrome's Metro user interface is still a work in progress, but it runs today.

Google has rolled out experimental support for running Chrome in the Windows 8 Metro environment. The feature landed yesterday in the Chrome developer channel and is available for testing on the Windows 8 Release Preview.

As we reportedearlier this year, Mozilla and Google are working to bring their respective browsers to the Metro environment in Windows 8. Microsoft has created a special class of hybrid application specifically for browser vendors that will allow them to support both Metro and the traditional desktop with a single program.

The new application type, which is designated "Metro style enabled desktop browsers," comes with a few caveats. In order to operate in the Metro environment, a browser will have to be configured as the platform’s default. Hybrid browsers that are not set as default will simply open in the traditional desktop when launched from the Metro environment.

I tested the Chrome developer build on an installation of the Windows 8 Release Preview in VirtualBox. Chrome works exactly as expected under the conventional desktop, with the same user interface and behavior that users are accustomed to under previous versions of Windows.

When I used the relevant button in the browser’s settings to make Chrome the platform’s default browser, Windows 8 displayed a simple prompt asking for confirmation. The prompt listed the installed hybrid browsers and indicated that Internet Explorer was my current default. It looks a lot like the equivalent dialog in Google’s Android platform that is used to specify which application should be the default handler for a given action.

After setting Chrome as the default browser, I was able to launch its Metro interface from the Metro environment by clicking its icon in the launcher. Chrome’s Metro front-end is clearly a work in progress—it doesn’t yet conform with the Metro look and feel. It currently uses a direct adaptation of Chrome’s standard appearance on the desktop.

Chrome’s distinctive curved tabs appear at the top of the screen, over the standard navigation toolbar. On the right-hand side of the browser’s Omnibar is a menu button. Instead of using Chrome’s standard wrench icon, it uses three horizontal lines.

It seems like Google is still determining how it wants to handle window management for its Metro flavor of Chrome. The user can have one regular browser window and one Incognito browser window open at the same time. The user can switch between them by clicking an icon in the top right-hand corner. The menu still has the standard New Window item, but it’s currently wired up to create a new tab.

In a nod to tablet users, the menu items are much larger in Metro mode, making them potentially easier to hit with a finger. Like a lot of aspects of the browser’s look and feel in Metro, this aspect looks like it’s a temporary measure while a more cohesive Metro-like design is being devised. The Omnibox autocompletion options are similarly inflated like the menu items.

The Metro support that Google is offering today in the Chrome developer channel is not bad for a first pass. It gets the job done and will give testers something to work with. We’re hopeful that we’ll see a more comprehensive and native-looking take from Google as their Metro implementation matures.

Google has been working to bring Chrome to its own Android mobile platform and has made it the centerpiece of its Web-centric Chrome OS. The search giant has largely kept the look and feel consistent across the various platforms and form factors that it supports with few platform-specific deviations. It’s not yet entirely clear how that philosophy will translate over the Metro environment.

I know this is just a test build so I can't be too harsh (and since I hate Chrome, it doesn't even matter personally to me) but if they do plan on having the browser look like that when using Metro, they might as well not even release it. It doesn't follow the Metro design language at all.

But, this is an early test build so there's obviously still time. Mozilla seems to have an excellent idea on what to do with Windows 8 Metro though.

It's been my experience that user interfaces in development builds often have little to do with the final product. You really won't know what Chrome for Metro will be like until the last moment; up until that point it's going to be in constant flux, with elements and workflows from earlier builds becoming resurrected and features in beta being dropped because they just didn't make the cut. The internals are much more likely to be relevant to the final builds than the UI at this point.

It looks like the Chrome browser from Android that I use all the time and works great.

I don't really see the need for everyone to conform to Metro look and feel, it is unrealistic to expect every developer to conform to MS guidelines, especially competitors and it is a preference that should be left to the user.

It looks like the Chrome browser from Android that I use all the time and works great.

I don't really see the need for everyone to conform to Metro look and feel, it is unrealistic to expect every developer to conform to MS guidelines, especially competitors and it is a preference that should be left to the user.

Agree, to a point. The best way to do it is to try and keep the experience consistent for users, but make it unique to your product. I'm sure Google can make a Chrome that feels very Googly but still fits into Metro.

Trying to stand apart from the platform and adhering to a totally foreign design ethic is a good way to generate backlash. See: Every straight port of a Windows app to Mac, or vice-versa. Each has its own style and sensibilities, and users generally vote against the clash.

I did not realize that it was so easy for applications to simply use Metro as a window manager and just present their existing UI.

That's too bad. It really sabotages what Microsoft is trying to do with Metro, i.e. make a clean break from legacy Windows and all its faults. Application vendors can advertise themselves as "Metro-compatible" without actually doing anything to improve their UI.

I continue to believe Windows 8 will be a tremendous flop for Microsoft. Metro is great for tablets, but does it really offer anything more than iOS and Android? x86 tablets still don't look promising, and ARM tablets won't run legacy Windows apps. And by the looks of things, it will be hard for Microsoft to force 3rd-party providers to produce attractive Metro apps.

Metro on the desktop will be a total disaster for any IT organization to support / transition to, with no real advantage to doing so. I will just stick with Windows 7, I tried Metro on my 24" screen and it looks ridiculous.

I did not realize that it was so easy for applications to simply use Metro as a window manager and just present their existing UI.

That's too bad. It really sabotages what Microsoft is trying to do with Metro, i.e. make a clean break from legacy Windows and all its faults. Application vendors can advertise themselves as "Metro-compatible" without actually doing anything to improve their UI.

The thing is that browsers are a special case where Microsoft will allow them to be installed outside of their app store. All other Metro apps will need to go through an app submission/approval process.

I did not realize that it was so easy for applications to simply use Metro as a window manager and just present their existing UI.

That's too bad. It really sabotages what Microsoft is trying to do with Metro, i.e. make a clean break from legacy Windows and all its faults. Application vendors can advertise themselves as "Metro-compatible" without actually doing anything to improve their UI.

The thing is that browsers are a special case where Microsoft will allow them to be installed outside of their app store. All other Metro apps will need to go through an app submission/approval process.

Oh, I did not realize that. Well, we'll see if Microsoft actually has the guts to tell developers "No, your interface uses too many legacy components and we won't allow you to sell it." A better solution would have been to simply make the Metro API incompatible with conventional Windows UI components.

It looks like the Chrome browser from Android that I use all the time and works great.

I don't really see the need for everyone to conform to Metro look and feel, it is unrealistic to expect every developer to conform to MS guidelines, especially competitors and it is a preference that should be left to the user.

Agree, to a point. The best way to do it is to try and keep the experience consistent for users, but make it unique to your product. I'm sure Google can make a Chrome that feels very Googly but still fits into Metro.

Trying to stand apart from the platform and adhering to a totally foreign design ethic is a good way to generate backlash. See: Every straight port of a Windows app to Mac, or vice-versa. Each has its own style and sensibilities, and users generally vote against the clash.

I think Google should make sure it keeps the Chrome experience consistent on Metro rather than change Chrome to fit the metro experience. Chrome is more popular and familiar to users, than the new and still very foreign Metro design.

I don't think the differences between Chrome now and Metro are significant enough that a backlash is warranted. This isn't like Mac/Windows ports where they change the OS chrome to the source OS which is completely different and a pain in the ass. That is not an issue in Windows 8, because Metro doesn't use OS chrome.

Anyone who wants a pure metro design browser should just stick with using IE.

Looks like Chrome to me. I had always thought Chrome to be a hideous interface but after forcing myself to spend some time with the browser (because so many of my customers use it) I have found that I really like some of the features. I've come to think of it as elegantly spartan instead of simply ugly. It's growing on me.

As for Metro or Windows 8 as a product, I'm firmly in the "I don't get it" camp. I sort of wonder if Microsoft is betting that Google is somehow going to get stuffed with regard to Android and a huge hole in the tablet interface market is going to open up. I've no idea how or why that would happen, however.

Obviously I need to do some reading regarding Microsoft's real plan for this O/S other than an aesthetic break from the Windows interface. If it's deeper than that I don't understand why they'd allow it to be referred to as Windows in the first place.

Is there an opposing quotation for 'a rose by any other name'? It would seem suitable.

Oh, I did not realize that. Well, we'll see if Microsoft actually has the guts to tell developers "No, your interface uses too many legacy components and we won't allow you to sell it." A better solution would have been to simply make the Metro API incompatible with conventional Windows UI components.

Even Apple doesn't disqualify apps for being ugly.

Apps accepted to the Windows Store may be ugly, but they won't be using anything legacy since you have to be a Metro app, and therefore using WinRT, to be in there. Anything else is merely a link to the developer's website.

Good lord, is it possible to have any post about Windows 8 without a ton of tired comments consisting of "I don't like Metro."? Everyone gets it. Lots of techies don't like Metro.

Now, as for the actual topic of the article:

Quote:

I think Google should make sure it keeps the Chrome experience consistent on Metro rather than change Chrome to fit the metro experience.

As the other poster noted above, Mozilla is doing just fine creating a Firefox for Metro that doesn't clash with the Metro design principles and still feels like Firefox. I'm sure Google could do the same, and I hope they do.

Good to see them this far along, looks like they'll be ready when Windows 8 releases.

As for Metro or Windows 8 as a product, I'm firmly in the "I don't get it" camp. I sort of wonder if Microsoft is betting that Google is somehow going to get stuffed with regard to Android and a huge hole in the tablet interface market is going to open up. I've no idea how or why that would happen, however.

Obviously I need to do some reading regarding Microsoft's real plan for this O/S other than an aesthetic break from the Windows interface. If it's deeper than that I don't understand why they'd allow it to be referred to as Windows in the first place.

Is there an opposing quotation for 'a rose by any other name'? It would seem suitable.

Windows 8 is Microsoft's attempt to re-position the company to avoid irrelevancy in the inevitable future where the majority of consumer computing is done on tablets and touch enabled devices, and general purpose OSes are a niche tool. Right now, that market is firmly in the hands of Apple. At this stage, the only way they can enter into this market and get the developer and OEM support crucial for any chance of success is to play their most powerful card, Windows. Within a year, Windows 8 will be pre-installed on hundreds of millions of systems, and if all goes to plan, developers will fall over themselves to compete for this market, creating the software ecosystem to make their Win8 tablets will be a strong competitor for Apple. Power users and businesses are collateral damage, but I suspect MS just assumes they'll keep buying Win7 licenses until they can work out the kinks in Windows 9.

Well using it right now and it certainly isn't metro yet: Min/Max/Close are still in the top right, buttons aren't optimized for touch etc.

Overall just feels like a full screen bodge of chrome

Did you set it as default and are actually using it as a Metro app? The min/max/close buttons are no there, there's a nice big ugly black waste of space at the top of the screen and the context menu is much bigger. Look at the first screenshot in the article and compare.

Well using it right now and it certainly isn't metro yet: Min/Max/Close are still in the top right, buttons aren't optimized for touch etc.

Overall just feels like a full screen bodge of chrome

Did you set it as default and are actually using it as a Metro app? The min/max/close buttons are no there, there's a nice big ugly black waste of space at the top of the screen and the context menu is much bigger. Look at the first screenshot in the article and compare.

Yup set as default and opened from within metro. The interface was definitely different, but min/max were there. Well, it's not even a beta yet not surprising there's bigs

As for Metro or Windows 8 as a product, I'm firmly in the "I don't get it" camp. I sort of wonder if Microsoft is betting that Google is somehow going to get stuffed with regard to Android and a huge hole in the tablet interface market is going to open up. I've no idea how or why that would happen, however.

Obviously I need to do some reading regarding Microsoft's real plan for this O/S other than an aesthetic break from the Windows interface. If it's deeper than that I don't understand why they'd allow it to be referred to as Windows in the first place.

Is there an opposing quotation for 'a rose by any other name'? It would seem suitable.

Windows 8 is Microsoft's attempt to re-position the company to avoid irrelevancy in the inevitable future where the majority of consumer computing is done on tablets and touch enabled devices, and general purpose OSes are a niche tool. Right now, that market is firmly in the hands of Apple. At this stage, the only way they can enter into this market and get the developer and OEM support crucial for any chance of success is to play their most powerful card, Windows. Within a year, Windows 8 will be pre-installed on hundreds of millions of systems, and if all goes to plan, developers will fall over themselves to compete for this market, creating the software ecosystem to make their Win8 tablets will be a strong competitor for Apple. Power users and businesses are collateral damage, but I suspect MS just assumes they'll keep buying Win7 licenses until they can work out the kinks in Windows 9.

There ya go.

I think that nicely describes part of the "why" but not the "real plan."

People like consistency. Imagine a world where your phone, laptop, desktop, tablet, television and game console all have the same interface. They all look and act the same. Applications on one behave the same as they do on any of the others. Everyone will be familiar with every device.

One company is in the position to do that and they are doing it with Windows 8.

Microsoft has created a special class of hybrid application specifically for browser vendors that will allow them to support both Metro and the traditional desktop with a single program.

It feels like every second article on Windows 8 is including mention of some special case / hack that will get around the whole Metro/Desktop shenanigans Windows 8 has to provide reasonable UX. Strong designs don't need hacks to allow the user to, well, use the software. I started out excited for Windows 8, but I'm pretty damn sceptical at this point. MS may have made a big mistake.

Tabs. Bookmarks. Enough said. I HATE the concept of the pull down screen to see what is open just so you can have the "full screen" experience. And worse yet, I DETEST not having bookmarks. When you've spent years on the web and built up a huge library of categorized bookmarks, the STUPIDITY of pinning them one at a time to the start menu, where you have to go there every time you want to switch sites, is just plain ignorant of user behavior.

So Google, just keep breaking the Metro UI so we can have cross-platform consistency. Shoot, I'd be satisfied by intra-platform consistency (desktop IE10 and Metro IE10 look like a comparison of Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal)

I started using the build last night on my "developer preview" last night and love it. A few comments:

1) The tab interface is actually really easy to use and I like it a lot more than IE's having to swipe from the top in order to see my tabs. I will be disappointed if they metro-ify the browser.2) Swiping from the top/bottom toggles "fullscreen mode" for those who don't want to see the tabs.3) Pages render a lot better than IE in Metro mode, which had a surprisingly high number of problems rendering websites (e.g. O'Reilly's Safari website).4) No flash whitelist means that all websites with flash that I try work correctly.5) Soft keyboard sometimes pops up at incorrect times. I suspect that more testing will fix this up well.6) One feature they are missing is the ability to pin pages to the top-level Metro screen. I'm sure they will add this at some point.

Guys, you should also know that Chrome supports "responsive web design" when in the 1/3 vs 2/3 split viewing mode in Metro.

For example, if you load http://foundation.zurb.com/ (a prototype template for responsive web designers) in full window mode, it appears a certain way. When you reduce the window size down to 1/3 in Metro, it goes to a usable single column view... at least for Chrome. If you try doing the same thing with IE 10 in Metro, the entire viewport simply gets squished and doesn't support the CSS used to modify the layout, rendering it almost useless in the split view.

Windows 8 is Microsoft's attempt to re-position the company to avoid irrelevancy in the inevitable future where the majority of consumer computing is done on tablets and touch enabled devices, and general purpose OSes are a niche tool. Right now, that market is firmly in the hands of Apple. At this stage, the only way they can enter into this market and get the developer and OEM support crucial for any chance of success is to play their most powerful card, Windows. Within a year, Windows 8 will be pre-installed on hundreds of millions of systems, and if all goes to plan, developers will fall over themselves to compete for this market, creating the software ecosystem to make their Win8 tablets will be a strong competitor for Apple. Power users and businesses are collateral damage, but I suspect MS just assumes they'll keep buying Win7 licenses until they can work out the kinks in Windows 9.

I think there is more to it than just touchscreen-optimization.

Metro is designed for a future where everything is a computer, with all kinds of input devices. Where everyone uses computing devices all the time using simple, effective UI's. No fiddling with overlapping windows, no options people don't understand, no viruses or malware, no degradation of performance over time, a simple contract-system as glue between apps instead of an abstract file system, simple discovery and installation of apps, etc.

For now, Metro may not be friendly for productive work, but for average consumers I think it is an inspired solution for the future.

Windows 8 is Microsoft's attempt to re-position the company to avoid irrelevancy in the inevitable future where the majority of consumer computing is done on tablets and touch enabled devices, and general purpose OSes are a niche tool. Right now, that market is firmly in the hands of Apple. At this stage, the only way they can enter into this market and get the developer and OEM support crucial for any chance of success is to play their most powerful card, Windows. Within a year, Windows 8 will be pre-installed on hundreds of millions of systems, and if all goes to plan, developers will fall over themselves to compete for this market, creating the software ecosystem to make their Win8 tablets will be a strong competitor for Apple. Power users and businesses are collateral damage, but I suspect MS just assumes they'll keep buying Win7 licenses until they can work out the kinks in Windows 9.

I think there is more to it than just touchscreen-optimization.

Metro is designed for a future where everything is a computer, with all kinds of input devices. Where everyone uses computing devices all the time using simple, effective UI's. No fiddling with overlapping windows, no options people don't understand, no viruses or malware, no degradation of performance over time, a simple contract-system as glue between apps instead of an abstract file system, simple discovery and installation of apps, etc.

For now, Metro may not be friendly for productive work, but for average consumers I think it is an inspired solution for the future.

That's a great point. Tablets are the story right now, but they are really just another a step away from general purpose computers towards more task oriented CE style devices.

This is what Chrome should look like when and if it comes to iOS like they promised. I just want it on iOS for the bookmarks syncing. Even if it can't run extensions... at first.

Also, yes, it looks exactly like it does everywhere else. That's what I like about Chrome's interface. It doesn't change with every update. Firefox and IE have changed their UI with almost every major version. Chrome has stayed relatively the same since the beginning, and still looks the same on OS X, Windows, Linux and Chrome OS. This is how it should be.